Patients who suffer from some psychological syndromes have different movement patterns than a group of people without psychological syndromes. Patient movements can be measured together with other patient data. If the patient's psychological syndrome can be characterized by measured patient data and the use of an objective analysis method, it would be possible to observe the effect of applied medical therapies. Such analysis method would be very useful.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,747 describes an interactive intervention training system used for monitoring a patient suffering from neurological disorders of movement or a subject seeking to improve skill performance and assisting their training. A patient (or trainee) station is used in interactive training. The patient (or trainee) station includes a computer. A supervisor station is used by, for example, a medical or other professional. The patient (or trainee) station and the supervisor station can communicate with each other, for example, over the Internet or over a LAN. The patient (or trainee) station may be located remotely or locally with respect to the supervisor station. Sensors collect physiological information and physical information from the patient or subject while the patient or subject is undergoing training. This information is provided to the supervisor station. It may be summarized and displayed to the patient/subject and/or the supervisor. The patient/subject and the supervisor can communicate with each other, for example, via video, in real time. An expert system and neural network determine a goal to be achieved during training. There may be more than one patient (or trainee) station, thus allowing the supervisor to supervise a number of patients/subjects concurrently.
Another known technique is illustrated in FIG. 1; OPTAx, delivered by OPTAx SYSTEMS, Inc. Continuous Performance Test (CPT) is a fifteen min test to measure inattention and impulsivity. The patient 11 executes the test himself on a computer 12, while the patient's head motions are measured with a camera. The camera finds the head position by tracking a marker 13 that is fitted on the patient's head. Motion data and CPT data are sent to a central system 14 after finalizing the entire test. Test results are calculated on the central system. The results are compiled to a report, which is sent back to a physician. The physician uses the report as one instrument to treat the patient, for example, through the prescription of medication.
A number of new techniques have been described in Proc. of the 7th IEEE Int. Conf. On Image Processing, Sep. 10-13, 2000, Vol. 2, P. 435-438 intended to enhance the performance of a video analysis system, free from motion markers and complicated setup procedures. The system is used for purposes of quantitatively identifying gait abnormalities in static human posture analysis. Visual features are determined from still frame images out of the entire walking sequence. The features are used as a guide to train a neural network in an attempt to assist clinicians in demagnetizing patients with neurological disorders.
The application of digital image processing and pattern recognition techniques are described in Real Time Imaging, Vol. 5, No. 4 (August 1999) p. 253-269 for assisting in diagnosing neurological disorders. In medical practices, the posture and movement of human subject through his/her gait cycle contains information that is used by experienced clinicians to determine the mental health of a patient. This is achieved by processing, extracting and classifying joint angle information from images of a human subject's gait. Joint angles and swing distances obtained from normal and patient subjects are used in training and verifying classifications using feed-forward neural network and a fuzzy clustering algorithm.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,090,044, a system for diagnosing medical conditions, such as low back pain (LBP), is described whereby a neural network is trained by presentation of large amounts of clinical data and diagnostic outcomes. Following training, the system is able to produce the diagnosis from the clinical data. By comparison, the present invention may be useful in diagnosing LBP in one embodiment, but there are other applications for the present invention both in the medical fields and in other fields. The instant intelligent diagnostic system is less expensive and more accurate than conventional diagnostic methods, and has the unique capability to improve its accuracy over time as more data is analyzed.
According to WO0064347, a pattern is determined of the neck movement of a subject. The head/body movement of the subject is recorded with markers placed on the shoulders and on the head and which therefore move with the subject. The locus curve of each marker in three-dimensional space is then determined in dependence on the time and it is stored as a data set. The neck movement is isolated from the head and torso movements by determining the difference between the average of the two locus curves that represent the shoulder movements and the locus curve representing the head movement. The pattern of movement established on the cranio-corpo-graphy is evaluated and analyzed using a data-processing device. The method is particularly suitable for determining the presence and the severity of an injury to the cervical spine as a result of whiplash caused by a traffic accident.